A “PEACE PILL” FOR DIFFICULT TIMES

Some time back, I made a pleasant discovery, and perhaps you would like to know about it — or rather him — too.

Though he never mentions hokku, you can better understand its spiritual foundations by listening to John Butler of Bakewell, England. He may use “Christian” terminology because of his upbringing, but his application of it is quite undogmatic and universal — and could just as well be said in Buddhist or Daoist terms. I think you will find listening to him very relaxing, a kind of “peace” pill for the times in which we presently find ourselves:

When he talks about the transitory nature of the virus compared to the eternal Stillness underlying it, I cannot help thinking of the spring hokku by Bashō:

The old pond;A frog jumps in —The sound of water.

If you would like to hear more of John Butler — and I suspect you will, given present circumstances — you will find his talks here: